• America’s Hidden History was an instant New York Times bestseller.

• Don’t Know Much About History spent 35 consecutive weeks on the New York Times list, has sold 1.5 million copies, and gave rise to the author’s phenomenal Don’t Know Much About® series.

Between 1800 and 1850, the United States rose from a tiny, newborn nation struggling for survival on the Atlantic seaboard to a near-empire spanning a continent. It was a dramatic time in which the “dream of our founders” spread in ways that few people of the Revolutionary Generation could have possibly imagined. And it was an era that ultimately led to the great, tragic conflagration that nearly tore the nation asunder, the Civil War.

Kenneth C. Davis offers a fresh and illuminating look at this tumultuous period and the characters and turning points that helped shape the direction of the expanding American nation. In six exciting narratives he explores the complex “hidden history” of America that goes beyond the accepted mythology of rugged individuals setting out for new territory:
• Burr’s Trial—The 1807 treason  trial of Aaron Burr, a clash of ego and ambition on a national stage
• Weatherford’s War—The 1813 Fort Mims attack, in which a group of Creek Indians, led by William Weatherford, unleashed the deadliest massacre in  frontier history
 • Washington’s Mutiny—The 1841 rebellion aboard the slave ship Creole, led by a
determined captive named Madison Washington, an untold tale of African-American resistance to slavery
• Dade’s Promise—The 1835 attack on an army column by a group of Seminoles in Florida that sparked one of the longest, most costly wars in American history 
• Morse’s Code—The Philadelphia “Bible Riots” of 1844 in which antagonism and violence towards immigrants, and Catholics turned deadly 
• Jessie’s Journey—The thrilling saga of Jessie Benton Frémont, the daughter of a powerful Missouri senator, and her extraordinary marriage and partnership with an American icon, Lt. John C. Fremont— known as “the Great Pathfinder”


Davis brings to light the compelling characters, issues and tensions that defined this time— the nature of leadership, ambition, and power; territorial expansion; slavery; intolerance; the rights of the accused; the role of the press; the disdain of immigrants—and which continue to reverberate today. Illuminating, crisply written, and utterly fascinating, A Nation Rising provides a new and important look at our nation—and who we are.